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Dave McCann, 49, allegedly slashed the throats of his wife, Tierney Cooper McCann, 36, and her mother, Judith Cooper, 68, and also allegedly threatened to kill his sister-in-law after smashing his way into the family home on Saturday.

Police said he fled the scene of the murders and went on the run, dumping his getaway car, riding a bicycle and hitch-hiking for 150 miles.

In a further attempt to evade capture he went "off the grid" by not using ATMs or a mobile phone, according to police.

His arrest came after a four-day manhunt when a homeless man tipped off police that he was laying low at a coastal camp.

Ms Cooper McCann's sister, Cortney Rider, told local media the McCanns' marriage had broken down and his business was struggling.

The day before the killings he had visited the family home to collect some belongings without incident.

Ms Rider said she awoke the following morning to find McCann breaking down the door of the house in Clovis, near Fresno, and before she could call the police he had attacked her sister, slitting her throat.

She said: "He looked at me and said, 'you're next', and I immediately ran out of the front door and ran to the next door neighbours.

"My mum was hiding in the master bedroom having it locked and he busted down the door after not being able to catch me. He went back to the house and he slit my mum's throat in the back bedroom."

Ms Rider said that despite being fatally wounded, her sister went to their mother's aid after McCann left.

"She was able to walk back to the bedroom and lay with my mum and they both died together," she said.

McCann, who was said to have been living in the US on a green card, was found asleep four days later in a homeless camp in Seaside, a town around 150 miles away.